CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

Dear, Cherry

As I lay in bed late one night surrounded by darkness, two thoughts occur to me.

One, I hadn't seen Jess in the past few days since the fight at the party. Either he was busy working or I was busy preparing for my graduation. When I went for Frans funeral yesterday I had hoped to see him there but I only saw Luke.

The second thought I had was that I was in love with Jess. Truly, madly, deeply in love with him and there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't sure if what I felt really was love. Since I had never loved anyone the way I loved him.

So maybe it was just some midnight delusions but a strong feeling in my gut told me that it wasn't. It told me that what I felt was love. Just pure love. That word ran through my mind so many times that it has started to sound weird.

I wasn't sure how long I stayed awake for as I replayed all the many reasons why I may love him for. His smirk, that smug smirk that made me just want to kiss it away.

The way that he had never failed to call me 'Cherry' ever since that fateful night that felt like a lifetime ago. How he likes to trash the same movies as me and still manage to have different opinions on stuff like that.

I loved that he could take my jokes and know that I didn't mean all the teasing I did. How he never fails to amaze me at how smart he is. The way that he doesn't know that he could easily beat all of those idiots in his school if he just tried. Another thing I loved was his passion for reading, just like me.

So as I drifted off into sleep, it didn't matter to me whether I knew what love was or not. I just knew I had to tell him how I felt.

~~~

I got up slightly earlier than usual the next morning. I needed some extra time at Luke's to tell Jess about how I felt. I wasn't sure how it would go so I needed to make sure I still had time to get to school without being late.

I was straightening my tie in the mirror when I heard the front door close from downstairs. That was odd since my mum should have left for work by now. I checked myself in the mirror once again before heading out my room and towards the stairs.

"Mum?" I called out to her from the banister.

"I'm down here!" I heard her reply. Sighing out in relief at the fact that it wasn't a psychopath, I grab my bag before heading downstairs.

Dropping my bag at the foot of the stairs I look at her questioningly. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

My mother sat herself on the arm of the couch warily. Her posture showed that she was tense and nervous about something. But I had no idea what, and that made me nervous too. I noticed that in her left hand was what looked like a weathered out book and a piece of paper.

Realising that I was waiting on her answer, she cleared her throat awkwardly. "I just have something to give you," she rushed out quickly before beckoning me to come forward.

"Is it a bomb?" I joke at her tensed state as she passed me the book and paper. My eyes glanced at the title of the book briefly before looking back at what must be a letter. It was folded neatly in half with a single word on the front.

'Cherry.'

Was all it said and in that moment I knew it was from Jess. My mind raked though the various possibilities that could be carried in the letter. As I began to unfold the letter, my mum stopped me with her hand over mind.

I raise an eyebrow at her suspiciously. She looked at me worriedly before speaking. "I think it's best if you read it upstairs."

Deciding that I was too curious to acknowledge how strange she was acting, I dashed up the stairs and into my room. I closed the door behind me before putting the copy of 'The Princess Bride' that I had gotten onto my desk.